Every so often we hear the league instructs the officials to crack down harder on certain penalties. Do they ever tell the officials to lighten up, or is it just natural evolution of refs subjectivity when calls like this seem to disappear?

I will agree with you about the lax standard. I know for a fact me and easy have not been happy with the way the league has gone. With this lax standards once the playoffs are approaching were going to see more flops, dives, and embellishment. If the officials were calling tight the players wouldnt need to feel like they have to "sell" the call. Players learn to adapt to the call style and even adapt in game.

As for league directives id ask that in the refs thread. Easy can answer that question much better and more elegant than I.

It sucks that Skrastins plays for the Stars. Like Koivu, he's a guy I want so badly to cheer for, but I can't as long as he's wrapped in the sweater.

I really like Skrastins game as well. At $1.4M yr, he's a steal. Excellent defensively and has a bit of offense as well although he doesn't show it that often. If the Stars are out of it come playoff time, I would really like to see the Sharks make a deal for this guy.

ah, this is one of the perks of having a girlfriend who is Canadian.....even if mine is from Calgary and loathes the Sharks

dump her. She's not good enough for you.

__________________"Do you know what "nemesis" means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent."Sometimes I use Twitter:@Nemesis_HFSorry, I am not taking signature requests at this time.

Just came back from the game. It was fun for our first ever Sharks road game:

1.) It's been a crazy tumultuous year with the layoff and having to move away from my home area of the Bay area and all that, so the goals for the Sharks felt REALLY good. Almost playoff good. The last goal I couldn't contain my laughter and laughed REALLY loudly. My wife felt bad for the Stars and their fans at that point. I didn't.

2.) The game felt like an opposite of a Sharks home stinker (you know, Sharks home game with tons of shots but not enough goals and the other team makes their shots count). So I guess it was a Stars home stinker goal-wise and I'll take it.

3.) The Sharks had ZERO power-plays. Really sucked to have attended or even watched a game with no Sharks power plays. Stars did take one penalty, but it was a matching minor. I think the refs were missing a few calls against the Sharks.

4.) That said, the Sharks didn't play all that great.

5.) AA Center is gorgeous. It's what, six years old but feels like its brand new. We were impressed.

6.) Stars fans have NO hockey etiquette whatsoever. They don't seem to understand to not leave your seat during play. They also lean like crazy and stand up during play and nobody says anything.

7.) My wife thought the Ice Girls were tacky, but I didn't mind. lol What you probably don't see is that the Ice Girls have a cheerleader group above lower bowl above the goal where the sharks attacked twice that were in skimpier outfits and just do simple dance routines. What was funny was that the Dallas players were more into it than the Sharks. You'd think the Stars players would be used to it and block it out and hope their opponents get distracted.

8.) The fans there cheering twice during the National Anthem was just as disrespectful as Sharks fans who boo twice during the National Anthem at Sharks/Stars games at HP.

9.) Stars fans simply aren't as loud as Sharks fans. They have to play their cheers/music over the PA really loud to make it seem like the crowd noise is louder than it actually is.

10.) Stars pre-game stuff is lame. They don't even announce the Sharks lineup the way HP at least announces the opposing teams starting lineup. They just show it on the screen 10 seconds before the National Anthem.

11.) During warm ups, a fellow Sharks fan approached us and introduced himself as the organizer of a Dallas area Sharks fan group, DFW Sharks. We were jacked because I've been looking for such a thing but couldn't find one, like on meetup.com or something. They are talking having the group buy tickets to sit together for a Sharks/Stars in March. I really hope they organize playoff viewing parties at bars and stuff because I don't comfortable going to a sports bar in the Dallas area and asking them to put on a Sharks game so that would be nice. I have NHL Center Ice but a playoff party with fellow fans would be great.